Lydia Ko after winning the Canadian Women's Open at The Vancouver Golf Club last summer. (Reuters)
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker hailed as favourites to win this year’s Masters as if that mythical title has any meaning.
Another name is emerging as a favourite to win the first major of the year and that will mean something because of its significance to the LPGA Tour and women’s golf in general.
The first major of the year is, in fact, the Kraft Nabisco Championship and not the Masters, which will be played a week after the proceedings at Rancho Mirage, Calif., where a 15-year-old may not be the actual favourite, but certainly somebody who stands a good chance.
As it is with the Masters or any other major for that matter, the term favourite is more a result of a popularity contest than an indicator of eventual success, but Lydia Ko’s appearance may actually draw attention to the fact that women play majors too.
